Page 156 - NS-2 Textbook

THE 19905 AND BEYOND 149

ned. Economic sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro
were inlposed the following May, also with little effect.
By the end of 1992 the sihlation had deteriorated to the
point that Yugoslavia ceased to exist for a tinle as a sepa-
rate nation.
In October 1992 the UN established a no-fly zone
prohibiting flights of military aircraft over Bosnian air
space, which was extended to cover all types of aircraft
in early 1993. The UN also proclaimed so-called safe
areas around several cities, including the nearly leveled
city of Sarajevo in southeastern Bosnia, control of which
had been a strategic objective of both sides in the conflict.
Air Force planes and Navy ships and carrier- and land-
based aircraft helped NATO forces enforce the embargo,
no-fly zones, and safe areas, but President Clinton was
reluctant to introduce grOtmd troops into the conflict. In-
Yugoslavia and its six republics as of 1991. stead, he preferred diplomatic pressure. Beguming in
1992, at least one Navy carrier battle group and a Marine
amphibious ready group were continually stationed in
difficulties caused by the end of Soviet aid, and (2) long- the Adriatic Sea, both to support Navy operations and as
standing friction between etlmic groups in its popula- a show of force.
tion. In June 1991, after Croatia and Slovenia declared Fighting continued for two more years until late
their independence from the former Yugoslavia, fighting 1995, when the United States joined other NATO forces
broke out between ethnic Serbs in Croatia who claimed under the auspices of ilie United Nations to try to bring
part of that republic for Serbia, and the Croat militia. a halt to the conflict by a heavier application of force. In
Soon the conflict broadened into Bosnia-Herzegovina, August and September 1995 in Operation Deliberate
between Serbs who claimed part of that republic as well, Force, Navy and Marine Corps planes from the carrier
and Muslims and Croats, who claimed the rest. Theodore Roosevelt joined with NATO aircraft from an
After months of bloody fighting that included atroc- airbase at Aviano, Italy, to conduct air strikes against
ities on both sides, in late 1991 the UN imposed an oil, Serb military positions south and east of Sarajevo. These
trade, and weapons embargo against Yugoslavia (which strikes ,vere in retaliation for the Serbs overrunning the
was supplying troops and arms to the Serbs) and Serbia UN-protected cities of Srebrenica and Zepa and mortar
in an attempt to end the fighting. The embargo had little attacks on Sarajevo iliat killed and wounded more than
effect, howevel; and the fighting and atrocities contin- eighty civilians. Altogether 3,500 sorties were flown

A British inspection team drops to the deck of a merchant ship to inspect its cargo during NATO arms embargo enforcement operations in the
Adriatic Sea in August 1993.